Tourist loses arm in apparent shark attack off Maui beach

A German tourist lost her arm in what appears to have been a shark attack off a Hawaiian beach on Wednesday -- the fifth attack this year in Maui waters.

The woman was with two friends before the apparent attack, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser. She was taken to Maui Memorial Hospital. She was in critical condition after losing her arm below the shoulder, according to the paper.

Two miles of beaches have been closed following the incident at Palauea Beach, according to local news website HawaiiNewsNow. State officials said the beach would remain shut down for at least a full day, according to the site.

“We heard screaming from the water and it was this unbelievable scream like I’ve never heard before,” Andree Conley-Kapoi, who said she witnessed the attack, told the news site. “I stopped working and I said the only time anybody would scream like that would be if they were being attacked by a shark.”

Maui Ocean Safety officials told the Star Advertiser that a shark that may have been as much as a dozen feet long attacked a kitesurfing board with no one on it on Tuesday. No one was injured when the shark took a bite out of the board off Maui, according to the paper.

There has been just one Hawaii shark attack death in the last 20 years, according to The Associated Press, but the attack was the fifth this year off Maui beaches and the eighth this year statewide, according to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.